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Red Sox Adviser Taking Heat Over Claim Players Are Replaceable

The Red Sox are distancing themselves from the recent claims of senior adviser Bill James and his comments that players are replaceable.

“If the players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them, the game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever. The players are NOT the game, any more than the beer vendors are,” James wrote on Wednesday.

The Red Sox issued a response on Thursday saying James does not speak for the club.

"His comments on Twitter were inappropriate and do not reflect the opinions of the Red Sox front office or its ownership group," the Red Sox statement read in part. "Our Championships would not have been possible without our incredibly talented players."

James is a famed baseball historian and the father of Sabermetrics, the application of statistical analysis to evaluate and compare the performance of individual players.

His comments drew the ire of some players and Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association and a former Red Sox player.

"The comments Bill James made yesterday are both reckless and insulting considering our game's history regarding the use of replacement players," Clark said in a statement issued Thursday. "The Players ARE the game. And our fans have an opportunity to enjoy the most talented baseball Players in the world every season. If these sentiments resonate beyond this one individual, then any challenges that lie ahead will be more difficult to overcome than initially anticipated."

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander and former star Torii Hunter took to social media regarding James.

The Red Sox issued this tweet with a statement responding to James' opinion.

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